Peter Lehmann founded his eponymous winery in 1979, partly as a means of helping with the glut of grapes then afflicting the Barossa. “I’ll take your grapes and turn them into wine,” he told the desperate growers, many of them conservative farmers of Silesian descent who regarded their old vines as part of their patrimony. “But I’ll only be able to pay you when I sell the wine.” They gratefully accepted. Without this deal, it is widely believed that the Barossa would have lost a large swathe of its old vines. The crisis passed, in large part thanks to Peter’s energy and vision, and the Lehmann winery became one of the Barossa’s, and Australia’s, most outstanding wineries. It was for his role as saviour of the Barossa and as the creator of this winery, that Peter was named ‘Personality of the Year’ by the International Wine Challenge in 2009.
The ‘8 Songs’ Shiraz is made in a softer style than the other Peter Lehmann Shiraz wines. Maturation in 100% new French oak hogsheads integrates the rich fruit and velvety tannins and gives a mocha chocolate character to the wine.
